Method, system, and computer program product for application identification in a cloud platform

ABSTRACT

A method, system, and computer program product, include extracting information related to one or more processes of one or more applications running on a virtual machine from a memory of the virtual machine, building at least one first application signature based on the extracted information, and identifying the one or more applications running on the virtual machine by matching the at least one first application signature with one or more second application signatures previously stored.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to the field of application management,and more specifically, to a method, a system and a computer programproduct for application identification in a cloud platform.

In a could platform, some applications running in a virtual machine (VM)of this cloud platform might abuse the cloud resources in an abnormalway, which may cause other applications running in the virtual and eventhe cloud platform to be crashed. Some of these applications are malwareapplications. For example, a malware can jeopardize a cloud platform bycausing memory leaks, or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.Some applications are not malwares, but they are on the black list. Forexample, applications for P2P service or Bitcoin mining will consumemany resources of a cloud platform so that it cannot provide normalservices with high performance That is, some applications running in aVM might bring serious security and performance problems. Therefore,there is a need for the cloud platform provider to discover whichapplications are running in each VM of this cloud platform.

To discover the applications running in a VM, there was proposed a touchbased method. Specifically, this kind of method can obtain theapplication-related information by installing agents or periodicallyrunning shell scripts in the VM (i.e., so-called “touch”).

To discover the applications running in a VM, there was also proposed atouchless based method. The word “touchless” means that the processingof this method is performed outside of the monitored VM. Specifically,this kind of method can identify applications either by scanning theport number used by known applications or by analyzing the trafficcharacteristics. For example, this method can identify apache web serverby scanning a port number 80.

SUMMARY

In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention can provide acomputer-implemented method for application identification, the methodincluding extracting information related to one or more processes of oneor more applications running on a virtual machine from memory of thevirtual machine, building at least one first application signature basedon the extracted information, and identifying the one or moreapplications running on the virtual machine by matching the at least onefirst application signature with one or more second applicationsignatures previously stored.

One or more other exemplary embodiments include a computer programproduct and a system.

Other details and embodiments of the invention will be described below,so that the present contribution to the art can be better appreciated.Nonetheless, the invention is not limited in its application to suchdetails, phraseology, terminology, illustrations and/or arrangements setforth in the description or shown in the drawings. Rather, the inventionis capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of beingpracticed and carried out in various ways and should not be regarded aslimiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conceptionupon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basisfor the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carryingout the several purposes of the present invention. It is important,therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalentconstructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of the invention will be better understood from the followingdetailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention withreference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing node 10 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud computing environment 50 according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for applicationidentification according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a part of binary content of an application in the kernelspace; and

FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of a process stored in thekernel space of Linux.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 1-6, in whichlike reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. It is emphasizedthat, according to common practice, the various features of the drawingare not necessarily to scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of thevarious features can be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity.

With reference now to the example depicted in FIG. 4, the method 400includes various steps for application identification. As shown in atleast FIG. 1, one or more computers of a computer system 12 according toan embodiment of the present invention can include a memory 28 havinginstructions stored in a storage system to perform the steps of FIG. 4.

Although one or more embodiments (see e.g., FIGS. 1-3) may beimplemented in a cloud environment 50 (see e.g., FIG. 2), it isnonetheless understood that the present invention can be implementedoutside of the cloud environment.

The inventors of the present invention found that, the current touchbased method requires a privilege to access to the VM to run theinstalled agents or shell scripts. It is not possible for an operator ofa cloud platform to discover which applications are running on a VMbelonging to a tenant, since it does not have the privilege to access.Additionally, the touch based method is performed from inside themonitored VM, which causes additional overhead in the monitored VM.

Further, the inventors of the present invention found that, the currenttouchless based method cannot adapt to the changing environment. Forexample, in the case where a port number used by an application has beenchanged manually from its original standard port number, this touchlessbased method does not work. Moreover, this touchless based method cannotdiscover the applications that run stand alone (that is, they do notcommunicate with other applications).

To address this problem, the inventors of the present inventionintroduce an improved touchless based method for applicationidentification.

With reference now to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating amethod for application identification according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the method for applicationidentification includes a memory information extracting step 410, anapplication signature building step 420, and an application identifyingstep 430. In one embodiment of the invention, the method in FIG. 4 willbe performed when the operator or management module of the cloudplatform intends to discover which applications are running on each VMsof the cloud platform. In another embodiment of the invention, themethod in FIG. 4 will be performed periodically. Normally, there are aplurality of VMs in a cloud platform. The method in FIG. 4 is performedwith respect to at least one of the plurality of VMs respectively, todiscover which applications are running in each of the VMs. Hereinafter,respective steps of the method for application identification in FIG. 4will be explained in detail.

Specifically, in the memory information extracting step 410, informationrelated to one or more processes of one or more applications running ona virtual machine from memory of the virtual machine is extracted. Asknown to those skilled in the art, a process of an application runningon a VM will occupy a space in memory (e.g., RAM) of the VM. Theprocesses of running applications are managed by operating system. Theapplications run in user space of the memory, but the operating systemruns in kernel space of the memory. For managing the running ofprocesses of applications, information related to the runningapplications are stored in kernel space of the memory. This kind ofinformation may include at least one of the following information itemsfor an application: process ID (PID), thread ID (TID), command line (orprocess name), user, type, device, size, node, and name and path of anopened resource. These are only some examples of information itemsillustrated for description, and other information items are also storedin the kernel space. These information items are called kernel objectshereinafter. It is a problem that the information we need is stored inthe kernel space.

Another problem is that, in the memory, the structure of a processmanaged by the operation system is stored in a binary format, and is notreadable normally. Some information items related to the process (i.e.,kernel objects) are stored with values and are not in succession. FIG. 5shows a part of binary content of a managed application in the kernelspace. In FIG. 5, “̂@” represents information that cannot be resolved. InFIG. 5, in addition to the “̂@”, there are also numbers such as “<80>”and “<98>” and strings such as “_text”, which are kernel objects thatcan be resolved.

Nowadays, there are some virtual machine introspection (VMI) tools orlibraries that can be used to do the above job, i.e., acquiring kernelobjects from the kernel space. Libvmi is an example of this kind of VMIlibrary. The libvmi library can be used to extract the value of a kernelobject from the kernel space at least based on input virtual address.

In one embodiment of the invention, extracting information related toone or more processes of one or more applications running on a virtualmachine from memory of the virtual machine comprises: extractinginformation related to opened resources based on addresses calculatedfrom offsets of kernel objects of operating system. The inventors of thepresent invention found that, operating systems normally provide a fixedstructure for a process in the kernal space. FIG. 6 shows an example ofthe structure of a process stored in the kernel space of Linux. InLinux, each process has a structure “task_struct” in the kernel space.The structure “files_struct” records usage of file descriptors of aprocess. The structure “file” represents an opened file by the process.Each opened file in the system has an associated structure “file” in thekernel space. When a file F is opened in a process, actually a structure“dentry” and a structure “Mode” of the file F is created in memory andlinked to the process. For example, the kernel object of file name canbe obtained from a variable “d_name” in the structure “dentry” that thepointer “f_entry” of the sturcture “file” points to.

In a word, the structures related to processes stored in the kernelspace have fixed structures in terms of positions and sizes. Forexample, the structures of “task_struct” are stored in succession inmemory, each of which has a fixed size and represents a process. Thus,knowing the base address of a “task_struct” and sizes of each objects inthese structures, it is possible to calculate a virtual address of ankernal object that you want to find its value. For example, if you knowthe base address of the structure “task_struct” is 10000, offset of thestructure “files_struct” is 3000, offset of the structure “file” is 500,offset of the sturcture of “dentry” is 70, and offset of the variable“d_name” in the “dentry” is 9, then the calculated address for the nameof this opened file would be 10000+3000+500+70+9=13579. The actualcalculation is similar to the above calculation and based on actual baseaddress and offsets.

Although the structures of a process in the memory are described with anexample of Linux, the present invention also applies to other operatingsystems such as Windows. While Windows has different structures inmemory for managing a process, these structures are also fixed in termsof positions and sizes. In Linux, the extracting operation can startfrom “init_task”, which represents the first process; and in Windows,the extracting operation can start from “PsActiveProcessHead”, whichpoints to the first process.

In one embodiment of the invention, the information related to one ormore processes of one or more applications may include informationrelated to opened resources of the processes. The opened resources mayinclude at least one of opened file and opened network connection.Actually, in Linux and some other operating systems, a networkconnection is also treated as an opened file, and the same or similarstructures are used to represent an opened network connection in memory.In another embodiment of the invention, the information related toprocesses of applications may include information of the processes thatis not related to the opened resources, such as the process name alone.

In one embodiment of the invention, by using the libvmi library withcalculated addresses for specific kernel objects, it is possible toextract information related to all opened resources of a process. Forexample, by using the libvmi library, for example, the followinginformation in Table 1 can be extracted for an opened file:

TABLE 1 PID Process Name Opened File 24 apache2 /bin/apache2

The above example only provides a simple example for describingextracted information for one single opened file. By programming withthe libvmi library, one can use the address of PID to extract the PID,use the address of kernel object storing the process name to extract theprocess name, and use the address of kernel object storing the name ofopened file to extract file name of the opened file. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the memory information extracting step 410 may extractthe following information in Table 2.

TABLE 2 No. Command PID TID USER SIZE FILE NAME 1 apache2 17756 17765 A22536 mod_status.so 2 apache2 17756 17765 A 14344 mod_setenvif.so 3apache2 17756 17765 A 34832 mod_negotiation.so 4 apache2 17756 17765 A18440 mod_mime.so 5 apache2 17756 17765 A 10248 mod_env.so 6 apache217756 17764 A 0t0 *:80 7 mysqld 17789 17797 B 40801 libpthread.so

The extracted information in Table 2 is only an example. In this table,each row represents extracted information related to one openedresource. For example, the sixth row represents an opened networkconnection at port number 80, which is treated in the same way as anopened file. In addition to the fields in the above table, otherinformation items can be extracted as additional columns, such as typeof the opened resource (socket, IPv6, FIFO, or real file), device ornode on which the process runs, or path of the opened file. It is notedthat, in the above table, the column “COMMAND” is equivalent to theprocess name, and the column “SIZE” represents the size of the openedresource (for an opened network connection, it is recorded as “0t0”).

Now referring back to FIG. 4, in the application signature building step420, at least one first application signature is built based on theextracted information. In one embodiment of the invention, the at leastone first application signature may be built for each of the openedresources, based on the extracted information. Taking the above Table 2as an example, for each row (that is, for each opened resource), a firstapplication signature can be built. In one embodiment of the invention,for example, from information in the third row in Table 2, the followingfirst application signature can be built.

Resource3 {        “Opened_file”: [“mod_negotiation.so”]       “CommandLine”: [“apache2”]   “Size”: 34832  }

Although the first application signature Resource3 is written in aJavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, other data structures can beused to record it, such as Comma-Separated Values (CSV). For informationin other rows in Table 2, similar first application signatures can bebuilt. The first application signature Resource3 is only an example.Other extracted information can be also included in this firstapplication signature, such as user or PID. Similarly, from informationin the sixth and seventh rows in Table 2, the following firstapplication signatures can be built.

Resource6 {        “Port_number”: 80        “CommandLine”: [“apache2”]  “Size”: 0  } Resource7 {        “Opened_file”: [“libpthread.so”]       “CommandLine”: [“mysqld”]   “Size”: 40801  }

It is enough to build a first application signature on the basis ofopened resources if an application can be identified by a single openedresource. For example, if a specific file X will only be opened byapplication Y, then finding file X being opened will identify thatapplication Y is running on the VM. However, in a more complex case, ifit needs more than one opened resources to identify an application, thefirst application signature can be built on the basis of processes. Inanother embodiment of the invention, the at least one first applicationsignature can be built for each of the processes, based on the extractedinformation Taking the above Table 2 as an example again, the followingfirst application signatures can be built.

Process1 {    “Process_ID”: 17756  “Opened_files”:  [“mod_negotiation.so”,  “mod_status.so”,          “mod_setenvif.so”, “mod_mime.so”,           “mod_env.so”]  “Port_number”: 80   “CommandLine”: [“apache2”] } Process2 {   “Process_ID”: 17789   “Opened_files”: [“libpthread.so”]  “CommandLine”: [“mysqld”] }

The above examples are only given for describing the invention. Otherform of first application signatures can be used as long as it caninclude information specific to a process or an application.

Now referring back to FIG. 4, in the application identifying step 430,the one or more applications running on the virtual machine areidentified by matching the at least one first application signature withone or more second application signatures previously stored. The one ormore second application signatures can be used to distinguish differentapplications.

In one embodiment of the invention, the second application signaturesform a database, in which each of the second application signaturescorresponds to an application and is used as the “signature” of thisapplication. In one embodiment of the invention, the second applicationsignatures previously stored may be obtained by compiling source codesof known applications and extracting information from the compilationinformation generated during the compiling. To obtain such a database,the user of the method in FIG. 4 may find sources code of variousapplications, e.g., from the Github website, in which source codes ofmany applications can be found. After obtaining these source codes, theuser of the method may compile source code of each application togenerate compilation information. Information that can distinguishdifferent application, such as names of opened sources, can be obtainedfrom the compilation information. Considering that new applications comeout continuously, it is difficult for a single person to collect thesecond application signatures of all applications. In another embodimentof the invention, the second application signatures previously storedare obtained by crowdsourcing. That is, every person or organizationcould upload or input his/its found second application signature of anapplication to a website, for example; and all of these secondapplication signatures will form a shared database for identifyingapplications running on VMs. In this case, hopefully, any newly emergedor upgraded applications will have a signature in the database and thuscan be identified. In another embodiment of the invention, the databasecan be created by combining the way of compiling and the way ofcrowdsourcing.

To distinguish different applications, in one embodiment of theinvention, the second application signature may include informationrelated to at least one of: one or more opened files of an application;one or more opened network ports of an application; and operationbehavior pattern for opened resources. That is, to identify anapplication, we need to find out which files this application hasopened, which ports this application uses to communicate, and how theopened files or used ports change over time. Examples of secondapplication signatures could be:

file “abc.lib” is opened; both of files “abc.lib” and “ddd.lib” areopened; file “abc.lib” is opened and port 80 is used; file “abc.lib” isopened and “eee.lib” is not opened; and file “fff.lib” is opened forwriting and closed after the writing operations.

As can be seen from the above examples, the second applicationsignatures can be very flexible, which depends on the scenario of usage.For the last example above, it shows what operation behavior pattern is.For example, the operation sequence regarding opening, closing, readingor writing can be used as the second application signature. In oneembodiment of the invention, the second application signature can bealso stored in the JSON format, like the first application signature. Ofcourse, other data structures can be used to record it, such as CSV.

To quickly matching the built first application signatures and thestored second application signatures, in one embodiment of theinvention, matching the at least one first application signature withone or more second application signatures previously stored in theapplication identifying step 430 may comprise matching the at least onefirst application signature with the one or more second applicationsignatures in parallel. For example, in one embodiment of the invention,the matching can be performed in parallel by using MapReduce from Sparkor Hadoop.

Taking the above Table 2 as an example again, in the case where the atleast one first application signature is built for each of the openedresources, a second application signature requiring a single openedresource is applicable. In this case, the seven rows of Table 2 can beprocessed in parallel by using MapReduce. For example, the secondapplication signature could be as follows.

Apache2 {       “Opened_file”: [“mod_negotiation.so”]      “CommandLine”: [“apache2”]   “Size”: 34832  }

For simplicity, we assume that, as long as the fields of “Opened_file”and “CommandLine” of a first application signature, such as Resource3,Resource6, Resource7, are matched with the same fields in the secondapplication signature Apache2, the application Apache2 is identified asrunning on the VM. In this case, in the Map operation, all of the firstapplication signatures such as Resource3, Resource6, Resource6 arematched with the second application signature, i.e., Apache2 and othersecond application signatures in parallel. For example, Resource6 andResource7 can be processed by different processing units of Spark orHadoop at the same time. For example, for the example in Table 2, afterMap operations, the following results can be obtained.

-   -   (VM1, Apache2)    -   (VM1, Mysqld)

Here, VM1 represents the name of the virtual machine and can be obtainedfrom the cloud platform. In this example, the Reduce operation will donothing. In another example, if duplicate tuples appear, the Reduceoperation is to count the duplicate tuples. The final identificationresult for this example shows there are two applications named “Apache2”and “Mysql” running on virtual machine VM1.

Taking the above Table 2 as an example again, in the case where the atleast one first application signature is built for each of theprocesses, a second application signature requiring one or more openedresource is applicable. In this case, the two processes of Table 2 canbe processed in parallel by using MapReduce. For example, the secondapplication signatures could be as follows.

Apache2 {       “Opened_files”: [“mod_negotiation.so”, “mod_status.so”]      “CommandLine”: [“apache2”]  } Mysql {       “Opened_files”:[“libpthread.so”, “sql.so”]       “CommandLine”: [“mysqld”]  }

For simplicity, we assume that, as long as the field of “Opened_files”of the first application signature such as Process1 and Process2contains all of the file names in the same field of the secondapplication signature, the application Apache2 is identified as runningon the VM. In this case, in the Map operation, all of the firstapplication signatures such as Process1 and Process2 are matched withthe second application signature, i.e., Apache2 and other secondapplication signatures in parallel. For example, Process1 and Process2can be processed by different processing units of Spark or Hadoop at thesame time. For example, for the example in Table 2, after Mapoperations, the following results can be obtained.

-   -   (VM1, Apache2)

Here, since Process1 opens the two files “mod_negotiation.so” and“mod_status.so” required by the second application signature Apache2, itis identified as belong to the application “Apache2” that is running onthe virtual machine VM1. However, for Process2, since it only opens thefile “libpthread.so” but does not open the file “sql.so”, it is notidentified as belonging to the application “Mysql”. Of course, it mightbelong to another application, and the corresponding second applicationsignature and the identification are not shown here for simplicity.Likewise, in this case, the Reduce operation does nothing.

In another embodiment of the invention, the different applications alsoinclude different versions of a same application. That is, differentversions of an application can be also deemed as different applicationand need to be identified. In one embodiment, since different versionshave different sizes, by matching the above “Size” field in the firstapplication signatures with the same field in the second applicationsignatures which may also include a version field, the followingidentification result can be obtained as an example.

-   -   (VM1, Apache2, v1)    -   (VM1, Apache2, v2)

If the two triples are obtained from the different processes, they canbe kept since there might be two versions of apache running at the sametime. However, if the two triples are obtained from the same process,which means the Map operations is on the basis of opened resources, inthis case, after the Reduce operation (counting operation), only onetriple with higher count is kept as correct identification result.

The method according to embodiments of the invention can be performedwith respect to multiple VMs respectively. For each VM, applicationsrunning on the VM are identified. The method according to embodiments ofthe invention is lightweight since it does not add any burden to themonitored VM. The method according to embodiments of the invention istouchless since it does not need privilege to access the monitored VM.Additionally, the method according to embodiments of the invention canidentify applications that do not communicate with an entity outside ofthe monitored VM.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a systemfor application identification. The system comprises one or moreprocessors and a memory coupled to at least one of the one or moreprocessors. The system comprises a set of computer program instructionsstored in the memory and executed by at least one of the one or moreprocessors in order to perform action of extracting information relatedto one or more processes of one or more applications running on avirtual machine from memory of the virtual machine. The system comprisesa set of computer program instructions stored in the memory and executedby at least one of the one or more processors in order to perform actionof building at least one first application signature based on theextracted information. The system comprises a set of computer programinstructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of theone or more processors in order to perform action of identifying the oneor more applications running on the virtual machine by matching the atleast one first application signature with one or more secondapplication signatures previously stored.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein the information related to oneor more processes of one or more applications includes informationrelated to opened resources of the processes.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein extracting information relatedto one or more processes of one or more applications running on avirtual machine from memory of the virtual machine further comprises:extracting information related to opened resources based on addressescalculated from offsets of kernel objects of operating system.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein the second applicationsignatures previously stored are obtained by at least one of: compilingsource codes of known applications and extracting information from thecompilation information generated during the compiling; andcrowdsourcing.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein matching the at least one firstapplication signature with one or more second application signaturespreviously stored further comprises matching the at least one firstapplication signature with the one or more second application signaturesin parallel.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein the second applicationsignature can also be used to distinguish different versions of a sameapplication.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein the second applicationsignature includes information related to at least one of: one or moreopened files of an application; one or more opened network ports of anapplication; and operation behavior pattern for opened resources.

In one embodiment of the system, wherein the at least one firstapplication signature is built for each of the processes, or the atleast one first application signature is built for each of the openedresources, based on the extracted information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computerprogram product for application identification. The computer programproduct comprising a computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith. The program instructions beingexecutable by a device to perform a method. The method comprisesextracting information related to one or more processes of one or moreapplications running on a virtual machine from memory of the virtualmachine. The method further comprises building at least one firstapplication signature based on the extracted information. The methodfurther comprises identifying the one or more applications running onthe virtual machine by matching the at least one first applicationsignature with one or more second application signatures previouslystored.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein theinformation related to one or more processes of one or more applicationsincludes information related to opened resources of the processes.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein extractinginformation related to one or more processes of one or more applicationsrunning on a virtual machine from memory of the virtual machine furthercomprises: extracting information related to opened resources based onaddresses calculated from offsets of kernel objects of operating system.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein the secondapplication signatures previously stored are obtained by at least oneof: compiling source codes of known applications and extractinginformation from the compilation information generated during thecompiling; and crowdsourcing.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein matching theat least one first application signature with one or more secondapplication signatures previously stored further comprises matching theat least one first application signature with the one or more secondapplication signatures in parallel.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein the secondapplication signature can also be used to distinguish different versionsof a same application.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein the secondapplication signature includes information related to at least one of:one or more opened files of an application; one or more opened networkports of an application; and operation behavior pattern for openedresources.

In one embodiment of the computer program product, wherein the at leastone first application signature is built for each of the processes, orthe at least one first application signature is built for each of theopened resources, based on the extracted information.

Exemplary Aspects, Using a Cloud-Computing Environment

Although this detailed description includes an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention in a cloud-computing environment, it is to beunderstood that implementation of the teachings recited herein are notlimited to such a cloud-computing environment. Rather, embodiments ofthe present invention are capable of being implemented in conjunctionwith any other type of computing environment now known or laterdeveloped.

Cloud-computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client circuits through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail) Theconsumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding network, servers, operating systems, storage, or evenindividual application capabilities, with the possible exception oflimited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud-computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud-computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic of an example of a cloud-computingnode is shown. Cloud-computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablenode and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope ofuse or functionality of embodiments of the invention described herein.Regardless, cloud-computing node 10 is capable of being implementedand/or performing any of the functionality set forth herein.

Although cloud-computing node 10 is depicted as a computer system/server12, it is understood to be operational with numerous other generalpurpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with computersystem/server 12 include, but are not limited to, personal computersystems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-heldor laptop circuits, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-basedsystems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputer systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributedcloud-computing environments that include any of the above systems orcircuits, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributedcloud-computing environments where tasks are performed by remoteprocessing circuits that are linked through a communications network. Ina distributed cloud-computing environment, program modules may belocated in both local and remote computer system storage media includingmemory storage circuits.

Referring again to FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 is shown in theform of a general-purpose computing circuit. The components of computersystem/server 12 may include, but are not limited to, one or moreprocessors or processing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18 thatcouples various system components including system memory 28 toprocessor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externalcircuits 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing circuit, a display 24, etc.;one or more circuits that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any circuits (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing circuits. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,circuit drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud-computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud-computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud-computing nodes 10 with which local computing circuits used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud-computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingcircuit. It is understood that the types of computing circuits 54A-Nshown in FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computingnodes 10 and cloud-computing environment 50 can communicate with anytype of computerized circuit over any type of network and/or networkaddressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary set of functional abstractionlayers provided by cloud-computing environment 50 (FIG. 2) is shown. Itshould be understood in advance that the components, layers, andfunctions shown in FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only andembodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. As depicted, thefollowing layers and corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage circuits 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud-computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within thecloud-computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption ofthese resources. In one example, these resources may compriseapplication software licenses. Security provides identity verificationfor cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and otherresources. User portal 83 provides access to the cloud-computingenvironment for consumers and system administrators. Service levelmanagement 84 provides cloud-computing resource allocation andmanagement such that required service levels are met. Service LevelAgreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for,and procurement of, cloud-computing resources for which a futurerequirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud-computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and, more particularly relative to thepresent invention, the method 400.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer-readable storagemedium (or media) having computer-readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer-readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer-readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer-readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer-readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from acomputer-readable storage medium or to an external computer or externalstorage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local areanetwork, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network maycomprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers,wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computersand/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer-readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer-readable programinstructions for storage in a computer-readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer-readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer-readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer-readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer-readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer-readable program instructions.

These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer-readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that thecomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereincomprises an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/orblock diagram block or blocks.

The computer-readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

Further, Applicant's intent is to encompass the equivalents of all claimelements, and no amendment to any claim of the present applicationshould be construed as a disclaimer of any interest in or right to anequivalent of any element or feature of the amended claim.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for applicationidentification, the method comprising: extracting information related toone or more processes of one or more applications running on a virtualmachine from a memory of the virtual machine; building at least onefirst application signature based on the extracted information; andidentifying the one or more applications running on the virtual machineby matching the at least one first application signature with one ormore second application signatures previously stored.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein theinformation related to the one or more processes of the one or moreapplications includes information related to opened resources of the oneor more processes.
 3. The computer-implemented method according to claim2, wherein the extracting information related to the one or moreprocesses of the one or more applications running on a virtual machinefrom a memory of the virtual machine further comprises: extractinginformation related to the opened resources based on addressescalculated from offsets of kernel objects of an operating system.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the one ormore second application signatures previously stored are obtained by atleast one of: compiling source codes of known applications andextracting information from compilation information generated during thecompiling; and crowdsourcing.
 5. The computer-implemented methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the matching the at least one firstapplication signature with one or more second application signaturespreviously stored further comprises matching the at least one firstapplication signature with the one or more second application signaturesin parallel.
 6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1,wherein the one ore more second application signatures are usable todistinguish different versions of a same application.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the one ormore second application signatures includes information related to atleast one of: one or more opened files of an application; one or moreopened network ports of an application; and operation behavior patternfor the opened resources.
 8. The computer-implemented method accordingto claim 2, wherein the at least one first application signature isbuilt for each of the one or more processes, or the at least one firstapplication signature is built for each of the opened resources, basedon the extracted information.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, embodied in a cloud-computing environment.
 10. A system forapplication identification, the system comprising: a processor; and amemory, the memory storing instructions to cause the processor toperform: extracting information related to one or more processes of oneor more applications running on a virtual machine from a memory of thevirtual machine; building at least one first application signature basedon the extracted information; and identifying the one or moreapplications running on the virtual machine by matching the at least onefirst application signature with one or more second applicationsignatures previously stored.
 11. The system according to claim 10,wherein the information related to the one or more processes of the oneor more applications includes information related to opened resources ofthe one or more processes.
 12. The system according to claim 11, whereinthe extracting information related to the one or more processes of theone or more applications running on a virtual machine from a memory ofthe virtual machine further comprises: extracting information related tothe opened resources based on addresses calculated from offsets ofkernel objects of an operating system.
 13. The system according to claim10, wherein the matching the at least one first application signaturewith one or more second application signatures previously stored furthercomprises matching the at least one first application signature with theone or more second application signatures in parallel.
 14. The systemaccording to claim 10, wherein the one or more second applicationsignatures are usable to distinguish different versions of a sameapplication.
 15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the one ormore second application signature includes information related to atleast one of: one or more opened files of an application; one or moreopened network ports of an application; and operation behavior patternfor the opened resources.
 16. The system according to claim 11, whereinthe at least one first application signature is built for each of theone or more processes, or the at least one first application signatureis built for each of the opened resources, based on the extractedinformation.
 17. A computer program product for applicationidentification, the computer program product comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodiedtherewith, the program instructions being executable by a computer tocause the computer to perform: extracting information related to one ormore processes of one or more applications running on a virtual machinefrom a memory of the virtual machine; building at least one firstapplication signature based on the extracted information; andidentifying the one or more applications running on the virtual machineby matching the at least one first application signature with one ormore second application signatures previously stored.
 18. The computerprogram product according to claim 17, wherein the information relatedto the one or more processes of the one or more applications includesinformation related to opened resources of the one or more processes.19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein theextracting information related to the one or more processes of the oneor more applications running on a virtual machine from a memory of thevirtual machine further comprises: extracting information related to theopened resources based on addresses calculated from offsets of kernelobjects of operating system.
 20. The computer program product accordingto claim 17, wherein the matching the at least one first applicationsignature with one or more second application signatures previouslystored further comprises matching the at least one first applicationsignature with the one or more second application signatures inparallel.